Fishing reels attach to a fishing pole and serve to handle a fishing line which is wound onto a spool of the reel. The reel allows the user to wind line onto the spool to retrieve the line after it has been cast and to bring in a fish hooked to the line, and allows a fish hooked onto the line to “run” with the line, in which the fish unwinds line from the reel under a frictional drag force which tires the fish. In fly-fishing, presentation of the baited hook attached to the line is critical, and thus the weight of the line must be properly suited to the conditions and the size range of the fish to be caught. Thus, as fishing conditions vary, it is desirable to change the line which is employed.
Classically, fly-fishing reels employ spools which have a plate on one side to which a winding handle is mounted. The spool is readily detachable from the remainder of the reel, and supplemental spool and plate assemblies can be employed to allow changing the fishing line without unwinding the line and mounting a new line to the spool. This approach has been found costly, as the supplemental spool and plate assemblies are relatively expensive. This problem is increased for fishing guides who may need to accommodate both left-handed and right-handed clients, as the guide must either provide duplicate spools wound for left- and right-handed use, or must spend considerable time unwinding and rewinding the line on the spool.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,120,003 attempts to overcome the limitations of classic fly-fishing reels by providing a reel where a single spool and plate assembly can be readily disassembled to allow a selected cartridge of line to be mounted thereon. Replacing the cartridge with another allows changing the weight of the line, and the cartridge can be reversed on the spool and plate assembly to switch between left- and right-handed use.
While the '003 patent overcomes the requirement to employ multiple spools and plate assemblies, changing from one line to another requires detaching the spool and plate assembly from the reel, then disassembling the spool and plate assembly to change the cartridge of line. This process requires manipulating a large number of separate parts, creating a risk of dropping one or more parts while attempting to change the line. To overcome this problem, U.S. Pat. No. 5,755,391 teaches a spool and plate assembly where the cartridge locks onto the plate to form the spool and plate assembly, which can subsequently be attached to the remainder of the reel. While the reel of the '391 patent appears to reduce the problems of changing line weight and switching between left- and right-handed use, changing the cartridge of the '391 reel requires the manipulation of small elements which may be difficult if the user is wearing gloves or has reduced dexterity due to cold or other environmental conditions. Furthermore, fishing reels are frequently subject to harsh use, such as being dropped in sand, and in both of these reels removal of such sand is frequently difficult due to the intricate structure of the reels.
In addition to the difficulties which occur when changing line cartridges, another limitation of the reels of the '003 and '391 patents is that these spools cannot be used with reels having a dual disk drag system, but rather are used with reels having conventional single-disk drag mechanisms, where drag on the spool is applied from only one side, limiting performance. A further limitation is that both reels are limited to a “direct drive” mode of operation where the handle turns with the spool, since the winding handle is mounted to the plate attached to the spool. This can create problems when larger, more powerful fish are hooked, since such fish can “run” with the line at high speeds, causing the spool, plate, and attached winding handle to turn at high speed and creating a risk of damage and/or injury from impact of the handle with surrounding objects.
Thus, there is a need for a fishing reel with an alternative structure to allow readily changing line weight and switching between left- and right-handed use without requiring a high degree of dexterity, and preferably overcoming other shortcomings of the reels discussed above.